Alternatives to ink extortion?
April 29, 2021 11:27 AM   Subscribe

I have a Brother inkjet printer (LC101). It is a nightmare. HELP ME ESCAPE THIS NIGHTMARE, possibly with a home monochrome automatic-duplex laser printer recommendation?

Things I hate about my printer:

- It seems to need ink replaced every 20 pages or so.
- It cheats me out of ink (saying cartridges are empty when they're not, refusing to print black and white when a color cartridge is out, etc.)
- I hardly ever print color and yet the color cartridges are constantly running out, even when they have literally never been used to print a color page.
- It prints poorly (streaky, I set it to clean the black nozzles, it uses up all the ink cleaning it, I replace the cartridge, it prints one clean page and then goes back to streaky; same result if cleaning on the color nozzles, except multiplied by additional $$ per cartridge).

I want a printer that will:
- Print black and white text and occasional light (not a lot of ink) images without giant streaky white lines through it
- Not need expensive new ink CONSTANTLY
- Not lie to me about how there's no ink left (and believe me, I've tried using a permanent marker or electrical tape on the ink to trick the sensor and get more use out of it, no worky)
- Prints double-sided on its own without my help. I do not want manual duplex.
- Work on wifi. My computer and printer are on opposite sides of the (smallish) home office from each other, a cable would be annoying.

I am thinking a laser printer might be the answer, but every time I start reading the reviews it's the same complaints except about toner, drums needing replacement, whatever. I just need to print in black and white. I don't need a scanner, fax, jet pack, holographic teleportation device. Just a wifi-enabled printer. This is for home use, generally max 15 pages a week but very occasionally more like 50. Please help.
posted by cnidaria to Technology (37 answers total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
Brother HL-L2350DW. Don't let your miserable inkjet experience put you off Brother entirely; their laser printers, even at the low end, are solid workhorses.
posted by flabdablet at 11:45 AM on April 29, 2021 [26 favorites]


+1 to the L2350 - I've had a brother laser printer for 15 years. It's needed toner twice. I bought off-brand toner, for $15 each time. I think the biggest cost has been the paper!
posted by bbqturtle at 11:46 AM on April 29, 2021


every time I start reading the reviews it's the same complaints except about toner, drums needing replacement, whatever.

Not saying these complaints are overblown, but the people for whom it just works are less likely to show up in the reviews and there are a lot of those people. I'd say "get the Brother HL-L2350DW" but pricing and inventory levels are weird right now, so perhaps just wait until they're back in stock. ($100-120 is the norm.) One standard-size toner cartridge a year, probably. Brother's wi-fi setup is solid. If there's a paper jam, it's easily fixable. It just works.
posted by holgate at 11:47 AM on April 29, 2021


I have third party ink in mine from Amazon. I think the vendor was iKong
posted by kschang at 11:51 AM on April 29, 2021


I've had a Brother laser printer since 2013 and I have never had to replace the drum. Toner lasts multiple years (though I don't print that much).
posted by primethyme at 11:54 AM on April 29, 2021


That Brother printer they're recommending is the same one that I put in my Amazon cart months ago, intending to buy because I'd decided it would solve pretty much exactly the same inkjet complaints about a different printer - and then didn't get ordered. Toner is good priced, and it seems highly rated. I have the cash finally to buy it, and hadn't realized it'd gone out of stock... if I find it for a decent price, I'll add it here.
posted by stormyteal at 12:01 PM on April 29, 2021


Those low-end brother laser printers are great. I've had multiple versions of them over the past many years. I have never had a problem. They are cheap, they run great, almost never jam, toner is reasonably priced, etc, etc.
posted by ManInSuit at 12:10 PM on April 29, 2021 [1 favorite]


A network printing tip: if your computer runs Windows, it's worth digging through the printer's setup menu to learn its wifi interface's MAC address, then logging onto your wifi router's admin page and telling its DHCP server to lease a fixed, reserved IP address to that MAC. Windows network printing works much more reliably if the printer's IP address never changes. Switch the printer off and on again after making this change to force it to pick up the new IP address.

Telling your router's DHCP server to lease a fixed IP address to a known MAC is less fiddly and error-prone than setting a static IP address in the printer itself.
posted by flabdablet at 12:12 PM on April 29, 2021 [5 favorites]


Actually, I remember now I got stuck between a couple of different models, and then never decided and ordered. I think I was comparing the 2350 and 2370, but I'm not sure.

If anyone is hunting for specifically one of these at a not 200+ price, and is willing to go with refurbished, directly from Brother, they do have them. I'm going to research that option, because the sub-$100 price range looks appealing.

(On second thought, check Office Depot/Office Max, too. I just found a 2370 in my area supposedly in-stock at normal list price, with several others in a 20-30 mile range.)
posted by stormyteal at 12:15 PM on April 29, 2021 [1 favorite]


The 2370 is a whisker more expensive than the 2350. It's maybe 10% faster and it also speaks PCL6, which makes it a better choice if you're going to try to run it without Brother's official driver. If you're happy to use Brother's driver it's probably not worth the extra money; the 2350 is still plenty brisk at 32ppm.

The Brother Print and Scan mobile app supports either.
posted by flabdablet at 12:21 PM on April 29, 2021


I've got a Lexmark MS317dn, and it's pretty much exactly what you're asking for.
Along with every other home/small office printer, they're like hen's teeth these days, but Lexmark's other options around the same price point are worth checking out.
posted by Kreiger at 12:22 PM on April 29, 2021


I have personally never forgiven Lexmark for inventing the idea of ID chips in toner and ink cartridges for the sole purpose of making it harder to use third party supplies, and will never buy another Lexmark product for that reason even though everybody else has since jumped on the same bandwagon. Lexmark started it, went so far as to sue outfits who reverse-engineered their ID tags for "copyright infringement", have never apologized for it and deserve eternal punishment for it.
posted by flabdablet at 12:26 PM on April 29, 2021 [5 favorites]


Response by poster: Update: Forgot to mention I have a Macbook. I have read some reviews of printers where aren't available for MacOS.

Does the Brother HL-L2350DW play nice with MacOS?

With brief Googling, I found this but honestly drivers/sysadmin stuff generally are not my strong suit technologically -- maybe somebody can confirm that this means it works/doesn't work with a Mac.
posted by cnidaria at 12:33 PM on April 29, 2021


Response by poster: Also from the Brother website about the HL-L2350DW. Looks like it doesn't support Catalina (which I'm currently running) or Big Sur (which I plan to update to). Can I work around this?

Support for:
macOS (10.12)
OS X (10.8)
OS X (10.11)
Mac OS X (10.7)
OS X (10.10)
Mac OS X (10.6)
OS X (10.9)
posted by cnidaria at 12:38 PM on April 29, 2021


We've had the Brother mentioned above for a year or so and printed probably a few hundred pages. It's been great, and works with AirPrint so I can print from my iPhone, which is the best. I suspect I have also printed from my Mac, although I can't specifically remember; I almost always print from my phone, to be honest.

Your link suggests that you're expected to print with AirPrint from your Macbook as well, so I suspect you'll be fine.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:38 PM on April 29, 2021


Does the Brother HL-L2350DW play nice with MacOS?

Yes, via AirPrint.
posted by flabdablet at 12:42 PM on April 29, 2021 [2 favorites]


I use that Brother printer with my Mac running Big Sur. I have no idea why they mention Mac compatibility. You don't need to install any software to get it to run.

I've had it for a few years, and it's been great. The toner cartridge that it comes with doesn't last long. I got a two-pack of replacement toner from amazon for $22, and I'm still on the first of the two, and it's lasted like two years. (I've probably printed about 500 sheets in that time).
posted by jonathanhughes at 12:44 PM on April 29, 2021 [3 favorites]


Another +1 for the Brother 2350. Bought it in 2018, haven't replaced a damn thing except the paper. Every 3-6 months I have to print something at home, wakes right up and prints it no problem. No streaks, no stripes, the ink hasn't dried out. MacOS (although hardwired), no problem whatsoever. I'm on Big Sur right now on a newer Mac, pretty sure the Mac I had before this couldn't even run Catalina so I was using the printer on Mojave or maybe even High Sierra. No problems at all, I have no idea what the hell Brother is claiming where it's not compatible with certain Mac OS's.
posted by soundguy99 at 1:30 PM on April 29, 2021 [1 favorite]


Nthing the low end Brother laser printer. I print out a lot for home use and buy off brand toner cartridges and they last for ages. As others have said the one it comes with isn't a full cartridge so do don't panic when you have to replace it. We got ours for a good price from Sams Club on a sale, but my BIL has a refurbished one and is happy with it.
posted by wwax at 1:43 PM on April 29, 2021


It's not as cheap as the list price on the Brothers, but back in peak Covid I bought a HP M255dw and I adore this thing. (I wanted a Brother, but they weren't in stock / were marked up stupid high.)

Everything JUST WORKS, seamlessly and easily. I thought I'd hate owning a printer, and bought it grudgingly, but turns out I love it and am delighted by it:
* It's easy to change ink (starter black cartridge lasted through over a ream; the replacement is expensive, but much bigger)
* I haven't had it jam yet
* Wifi set up was really really easy.
* It just works, with both my MacBook and my Linux desktop
posted by Metasyntactic at 1:46 PM on April 29, 2021


we have a Brother HL-3140CW color laser that is 3? years old. It works well over wifi as long as you tell your router to assign it a set address. we had issues when it would lose wifi (including if it needed a new IP lease), it would show an error and need to be restarted at the local panel, but between giving it its own address and the last firmware update that has gone away. It plays well with mac, windows, ios, and android devices. we got it for the same reasons as you describe; we were just DONE with inkjet with how little we print. Since it's laser, the color cartridges won't ever go bad. It does color text ok, but it is definitely NOT a photo printer.

It's big brother the 3170CDW has duplex, but is discontinued. I found this PDF that says the HL-L3230CDW is its replacement.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 1:53 PM on April 29, 2021


You generally will need to install some kind of software on your computer that tells the printer your wifi password, since you're not directly connecting it to your computer. I am pretty sure the Brother software will work on modern versions of MacOS. It's not a printer driver, but it's still annoying and I still had to do some basic troubleshooting when I did it.

Also, when laser printers start showing streaks like it's low on toner, you can remove the toner cartridge and shake it side to side to redistribute the toner. It will give you a bunch more pages, should be enough time for a new cartridge to arrive in the mail.
posted by meowzilla at 1:54 PM on April 29, 2021 [1 favorite]


Seconding these Brothers. Also, the "just works" wifi printing is because of AirPrint. You'll very often find that your computer has found and configured itself to use an AirPrint printer as soon as you've added the printer to the network.
posted by scruss at 1:55 PM on April 29, 2021


I have the 2390, which I think is just the 2350 with a scanner bed, and it works fine with my modern-day Mac. Occasionally it starts to print and then stops, but I just have to resume the print job and it chugs away. You can also use it for quite some time after it starts to complain of low toner.
posted by praemunire at 2:05 PM on April 29, 2021


> meowzilla:
"You generally will need to install some kind of software on your computer that tells the printer your wifi password, since you're not directly connecting it to your computer."

I don't have personal experience with the 2350, but my 3140's local interface has enough functionality to enter the SSID and password. it's a little tedious using up/down/enter/cancel, but you only have to do it once. after that you can just use the web interface built into the printer do do any other configuration. a quick look at the manual on the Brother support page seems to say that it is also possible with the 2350.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 2:07 PM on April 29, 2021 [1 favorite]


You generally will need to install some kind of software on your computer that tells the printer your wifi password

If your wifi router supports WPS or AOSS, you can press a button or flip a switch on the router, then put the printer in WPS/AOSS connection mode, and it should connect automatically.
posted by holgate at 2:19 PM on April 29, 2021 [1 favorite]


I have an Epson ET-3750. It prints with ink, but the ink comes in big, cheap bottles. It has a built-in duplexer, multi-page scanner, and has served me well for about three years on the original bottles of ink that came with it when I bought it.

There are similar models available without the scanner and probably a bit cheaper.
posted by Hatashran at 3:18 PM on April 29, 2021


Adding to the pile on for low end Brother. I got mine at Sam's. I use 3rd party toner that I order from Amazon.
posted by kathrynm at 3:40 PM on April 29, 2021


I have a Brother HL-L2340DW (the previous model to the L2350DW), and I've only needed to replace the toner once in 6 years of ownership, with my printing needs modest and very sporadic. It's laser-targeted to solve the specific issues you're having (high quality b/w only auto-duplex printing at lower cost and without the hassles of ink-based printers). I can leave this printer idle for months at a time and not worry about ink drying out or print heads getting clogged.

You will be giving up color, of course, but more likely than not it'll be more economical to just send the occasional color job to a copy & print shop than have an inkjet (or even color laser printer) around.
posted by Aleyn at 4:02 PM on April 29, 2021


I just bought my 3rd Brother laser printer - the original HL-L2270DW has lasted 10(?) years so far, I upgraded to the HL-L2390DW 4 years ago because I wanted a scanner, then last week I got a HL-L3270CDW colour laser. I work my printers pretty hard & can't run my business without them, so I'm pretty big on simple and dependable. Setup with my Linux network is a matter of pushing the WPS/AOSS button on my router and on the printer, and bingo! everything just works, it's magical. The Brother iPrint & Scan app works great on android.

The only thing that I find they don't do well is when you try to run cardstock through on duplex, I have to do that manually (and to be fair, that's kind of a big ask for any printer). But regular papers go just fine, no problems. Third-party toner cartridges are perfectly acceptable for printing on paper, but I get the actual Brother toner for printing the waterproof vinyl labels I use on some of my packaging; it costs more but gives much better results for that particular need.
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 7:12 PM on April 29, 2021 [2 favorites]


Every single thing you hate about your printer is because it's an inkjet. You're right a laser printer will fix all those problems. Any new cheap laser printer will do what you want, the duplex requirement is the only slightly complex thing. You should decide if you want color printing and/or a multifunction fax/copier too.

The Wirecutter recommendation on the cheap end is a Brother HL-L2350DW. It should cost $120, but it's out of stock and prices inflated at a lot of places. Weirdly many Brother printers are out of stock; I wonder if there's some global supply chain problem?
posted by Nelson at 8:37 AM on April 30, 2021 [1 favorite]


Buy any low end laser printer - ours is a Dell, offers wireless printing for devices, and was like $60, and ink is about $20 a year (we print lots for school). And laser printer black ink doesn't go bad if you don't print, like an ink jet does.

We print color pictures at like CVS, WallGreens, WalMart, etc, whichever is offering prints for FREE that week.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:58 AM on April 30, 2021


"Printers are still the worst but at least new ink-tank printers help you save money on ink. WSJ’s Joanna Stern survived testing 10 home printers from Epson, HP, Brother and Canon to tell you which are worth buying."

https://www.wsj.com/video/series/joanna-stern-personal-technology/the-best-printers-that-wont-cost-you-a-fortune-in-ink-cartridges/55034BA8-10E0-4335-A8F1-4575384A02A6
posted by ITravelMontana at 9:02 AM on April 30, 2021


After years of suffering with stupid ink jets with dried-up ink tanks and stupid expensive ink we got a Brother HL-L5200DW (big brother of the 2350DW). It is fantastic. For the first time every the printer just works and I never have to think about it unless it runs out of paper.

Wireless printing is painless with our elderly Mac laptop and my ancient 1st gen iPad air.

It also works perfectly with our Win 10 computers, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to print on it with Linux.
posted by fimbulvetr at 1:59 PM on April 30, 2021 [1 favorite]


Which Linux distribution do you run?

If it's one of those supported by an official Brother driver and you're running it on an x86 machine, as opposed to something like a Raspberry Pi, the process is essentially painless. If not, there will be a way to make CUPS work with it (the HL-L5200DW supports PCL6) but probably not easily and possibly not perfectly.
posted by flabdablet at 9:00 PM on April 30, 2021


It is on a PineBook Pro, so CUPS is .... not painless.
posted by fimbulvetr at 9:36 PM on April 30, 2021


You could try adding it and specifying the "Generic PCL 6/PCL XL LF Printer - CUPS+Gutenprint" driver (install the printer-driver-gutenprint package first if that's not already offered as an option). As far as I know that's the PCL6 option that gives you the most tweakability, so there's a good chance you can make it understand the shape of your printer properly.
posted by flabdablet at 10:33 PM on April 30, 2021


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